Hero Detective George Corey couldn’t wait to join the ranks of the elite FBI-NYPD joint terrorist task force after the 9/11 attacks on his beloved city.

He knew it might cost him weeks, even months away from his wife and kids on Long Island, while he tracked leads in Alaska, Sweden, Cuba and Europe.

Yesterday, Corey’s tireless work paid off.

The 40-year-old Bayside, Queens, native was hailed by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for playing a key role in cracking the case against fanatical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.

Corey, acclaimed in law-enforcement circles as a savvy expert interviewer, was able to extract crucial evidence that lead to al-Masri’s arrest from a terrorist suspect already in custody for attempting to set up a Jihad training camp in Bly, Ore., according to Kelly.

Corey, along with his partner FBI Special Agent Michael Butsch, were “the keys to breaking this case,” said Kelly.

“In addition to his tireless work in gathering the evidence needed to bring Hamza in, Detective Corey developed an excellent relationship with a cooperating source that was essential to revealing much of the case against Hamza,” Kelly said, declining to reveal more details.

“He’s noted to be a meticulous investigator who is very articulate.”

The decorated Corey cut his teeth walking the beat in The Bronx almost two decades ago.

His former partner Joe Murphy remembers the Catholic University star football player as the cop who racked up the most gun and robbery collars at the 46th Precinct in The Bronx.

“If it’s my life on the line. He’s the guy I want working the case. And if I’m killed, make sure you call George,” Murphy said, recalling how he and a dogged young Corey followed a trail of blood that led to the hideout of a gunman, wounded in a shoe store shooting.

Corey was later promoted, working narcotics in Queens and then assigned to the Organized Crime Investigation Division, where he worked on the high-profile Trade Waste Commission case, taking down the Mafia in the waste-hauling racket.